iDefend You
by VioletDreamCatcher
Summary: Sam is falsely accused of vandalizing the school. Will the one person who can prove she is innocent be able to save her from being expelled?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Prologue

Although the day I had first met Sam Puckett was years ago, it left a lasting impression on me. It was my first day at Ridgeway Elementary School and my mother had just brought me to the playground and gave me a goodbye kiss on the cheek. A group of five taller, bigger boys surrounded me almost as soon as she was out of sight.

"Aw, does the new little boy need his mommy to hold his little hand and kiss him bye, bye," a redheaded boy mocked.

I stood at my full height, which unfortunately wasn't very tall back then and said, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." The group dissolved into laughter. "What a dork!"

Though I tried not to take the comment to heart, it still hurt. Not even ten minutes at my new school and I was already being picked on. I attempted to push away from them, my eyes stinging with tears.

"What's wrong, kiddo," said the redheaded leader as he pulled me back by my backpack, "we're just having a little fun."

Out of nowhere, I heard something that sounded like a primitive war cry. The cry was accompanied by a flash of blonde, curly hair. Before I knew it the screaming girl with the blonde hair had knocked the redhead backwards, forcing him to let go of me. I fell to the ground with a thud.

"Hey what's your problem—"

"Don't even start with me. If I catch you messing with this boy again, I'm gonna do a double fist dance on your face!" she pointed to the other boys, "and that goes for all of you!"

The ringleader smirked, "Why would we be afraid of a little girl like you?"

She smirked, twisted his arm behind his back, and again sent him to the ground, despite his struggling. It was impressive considering she was much smaller than him.

"Did I convince you or do I need to step it up a little," the blonde asked, still holding onto him.

"Come on, guys. This girl's a freak!" The redhead said as he slipped out of her grip. The gang scattered.

She looked satisfied for a minute, then turned to me. "Hey, are you okay?" She asked in a gentle voice, nothing like the one she had used while yelling at the gang. She bent down to where I was still sitting on the pavement. "I hope I didn't hurt you when I pushed you away from that jerk."

"No, you didn't. You're the nicest person I've met at this school so far."

"Hey, don't let that get out. I've got a rep to maintain. Names Puckett. Sam Puckett."

"I'm Freddie Benson." I replied.

"Well, Freddie, you're not going to sit on the ground all day are you?" Sam offered her hand and helped me up. I realized in annoyance that I was only a little taller than her shoulder. If I didn't have a growth spurt soon so help me…

"I better go," Sam said, interrupting my thoughts, "I promised to meet my friend Carly in the parking lot when her brother drops her off. You're welcome to come with me."

"I would, but I have to take some papers to the office." I said.

"Okay, well, I guess I'll see you around then."

"See you, Sam, and thanks for you know, defending me, even though we barely know each other."

Sam smiled, "No problem. Five guys against one wasn't fair. And Freddie, if they mess with you again you can come to me. No one is going to hurt you on my watch."

That was an ironic statement, I thought as I remembered that day while daydreaming in Computer Science. Since Sam had spent a considerable amount of time over the years hurting me herself, it was very ironic. It all started when Sam introduced me to Carly, who I later found out to be my neighbor, at lunch. I had a little crush on Carly right away and I may have accidentally excluded Sam from the conversation. Sam retaliated by "accidentally" leaving a piece of pizza on my chair when I got up to throw my trash away. She became a different person, always teasing me, especially when we started iCarly and were forced to spend time together. Only rarely when we were alone or would share glances with one another would she become the girl who defended me. I once told myself I only put up with Sam because of Carly. The truth was I knew that deep down Sam had a kind, vulnerable side and didn't really mean me any real harm. Ever since iCarly ended and Carly left for Italy she has shown that side to me more and more. That's the Sam I know, deep down, even though she puts up a mask for the world to keep her reputation. It's also why I know I'm not crazy for having dated her, and for still loving her no matter what goes down between us. Wait, _still_ loving her? Did I seriously just think that?

**Disclaimer: I do not own iCarly or any of the characters created for iCarly by Dan Schneider. I only own this story, the back story of how Sam and Freddie met, and unfortunately, the bullies, including the redheaded kid that picks on Freddie. Chapter 2 will be up soon! Please review if you have any questions or comments and favorite if you enjoyed this chapter! Flames will be stomped out by Sam.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The bell rang, forcing me to leave class and go out in the hallway still in my daze of thoughts. I couldn't still have feelings for Sam. Carly kissed me before leaving Seattle to be with her dad in Italy. That meant I was going to be with Carly one day, right?

"I'm telling you, I didn't do it!" a familiar, distressed voice cried out, breaking my thoughts. I ran down the hall to see Sam run out of the principal's office with Ms. Briggs closely following. I vaguely remembered Sam's name being called over the loudspeakers while I was in class.

The hallway became silent as my fellow students gathered around to watch the exchange.

"I am not stupid, Samantha," said Ms. Briggs, "there is too much evidence against you to fool me. I can't say I'm surprised it was you that wrote a very unflattering comment about me on the side of the school."

Half of the students in the hallway left to check outside for the damages. I, however, stayed put, my heart pounding.

"All I can say is that I was nowhere near this school last night. You can believe it or not, but it's the truth." Sam said, exasperated.

"Well," Ms. Briggs stated, "we spoke with Gibby and a few of the other hooligans that you hang out with. Several sources say you mysteriously left after school and could not be contacted all night long. We also called your mother, who couldn't even keep track of her meatloaf, much less her own daughter."

Sam was boiling with anger, "You leave my mother out of this! I'm outta here." She turned to leave in a huff, only to have Ms. Briggs try to grab her by the shoulder, pulling her hair instead. Sam jumped back. "Ow, hair."

I marched toward them angrily. I hated it when people pulled on Sam's hair. "Stop it right now, Miss Briggs!" I grabbed the teacher's arm forcing her to release Sam's hair. Ms. Briggs's mouth was wide open.

"Fredward Benson, what has gotten into you?"

"What has gotten into y_ou,_ Ms. Briggs? I don't care what how unflattering a comment you _think_ was written by Sam, it still doesn't give you the right to physically harass a student by pulling on her hair. I _will _report you, no matter how this goes." I growled through clenched teeth. Sam looked impressed and surprised at my bravado.

"I admit I did go too far, but this still does not concern you, Mr. Benson."

"You may think that, but I happen to know Sam's exact whereabouts last night, and she was not vandalizing our school." I glanced at Sam nervously for approval. She nodded for me to go on. "Sam and I were together all night last night."

The world seemed to stop spinning for an instant. Several people gasped. I heard a faint 'They're dating again! Seddie for the WIN!' in the distance.

I cringed and continued, "Ugh, not like that! We were at my house and I was helping her with her Trigonometry homework. We fell asleep in my living room. Sam had a spare change of clothes with her so we came straight to school together. Sam couldn't have done anything because she was with me the entire time." I said, confident that this nonsense was over.

"Interesting story," a voice chimed in, "too bad it didn't happen that way."

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but this story and any original characters. iCarly belongs to Dan Schneider.**

**A/N: This story takes place during Sam and Freddie's senior year, which explains why Sam is taking trigonometry. I remember having to take trig *shudders*. In case you're wondering, this story will mostly focus on the friendship between Freddie and Sam, but Freddie is definitely having some romantic feelings toward her again. Carly (sort of) makes an appearance in an upcoming chapter! Chapter 3 should be up later today or tomorrow. Please review, and favorite and follow if you want to know what happens next! It makes my day when someone likes my story, and makes me feel good for continuing the iCarly fandom. Thanks for reading and have a great day! :)**


	3. Chapter 3

I stood silent and angry as the person who had spoken these words appeared. It was none other than Lanny Forester, the new kid who had given Sam and me trouble since the day he had walked into Ridgeway High School three months ago, and we had never even said two words to the guy. Strangely, he took a liking to Ms. Briggs, quickly becoming the closest she had to favorite student.

"Do you really think Sam Puckett would be studying trig when she's alone with Freddie Benson?" Lanny asked. I shot him a glare that I think even rivaled the one that Sam was giving him. "And I say _alone _because I happen to know that Mrs. Benson is at a nurse's meeting in Atlanta this week, leaving Fredwardo alone in his apartment. There would be no one around to be sure that Sam did not sneak off in the night while Freddie was sleeping."

Besides wondering how, and why, he had gotten such information, I wanted to punch him because it forced me to reveal one of the most embarrassing things that my mom does. _Do it for Sam._ "Sam couldn't have left. My mom has an alarm on our door that keeps me from leaving the apartment until I have to leave for school at seven in the morning. She activated it from her Pearphone after I called her to say goodnight last night."

Several students in the hallway snickered. The warning bell went off to deaf ears.

"But isn't Sam a mastermind?" argued Lanny "She could have disarmed the alarm and got out of the apartment undetected. This explains this picture that was found slid under the principal's door this morning!" He forced a picture into our faces. To the untrained eye, it almost looked like a legit picture of Sam sneaking away from the courtyard with a can of spray paint in her hand. I, however could tell the thing was Photodocked.

The tardy bell rang at that moment, but only a few students made a move to leave for their next class, too captivated by the scene that I unfortunately was a part of. The students who had ran off to check out the vandalism were still outside. Mrs. Briggs grew even more annoyed.

"Any student who is not part of this discussion will face detention if they are not in class within the next three minutes. Benson, Puckett, and Forester, we will move this conversation to the principal's office," said Ms. Briggs.

Sam and I dragged our feet into the office while Lanny walked proudly. We plopped into our seats. Ms. Briggs sat down at the desk in front of us.

"Hey, where's Mr. Franklin?" I asked

"Mr. Franklin is away at a conference for the next two days. I will be taking over his duties during that time," said the teacher.

"How convenient," I muttered before saying out loud, "You do realize that the photo Lanny has is Photodocked, right?"

"Photodocked?" Ms. Briggs asked incredulously.

"Yeah, you know like what I used to make it look like you had the body of a rhino a few years ago." Sam said with a smirk.

"Sam!" I exclaimed.

"Ha, I knew it was you and not Carly!" Ms. Briggs exclaimed.

"No, it _was_ Carly who did that! Sam was just being Sam." I exclaimed "Anyway, this photo was obviously Photodocked, and not very well."

Sam looked at the photo. "Whoever did this must've used a pretty old photo. I don't even have this hoodie anymore."

"I think that if we looked hard enough we would find the source photo. It's probably either from the yearbook or . I think that Sam was framed," I told them.

"We could, but we'd be wasting our time. Sam has proven that time and time again with her criminal antics and her dislike for my aunt."

"Your aunt?" Sam and I said in unison. I noticed that Lanny's hair was the exact same shade of red as Ms. Briggs's. _This explains why Lanny and Ms. Briggs are so close_.

"Yes," said Ms. Briggs, "And I agree with my nephew. Sam doesn't exactly have the cleanest criminal record."

"Oh, so you two just assume I did it just because I've done bad things in the past? What happened to 'innocent until proven guilty' and all that other chiz? Doesn't this school have security cameras? " Sam asked.

"Not in that location. I'm sorry Sam, but you're just going to have to be suspended until Mr. Franklin gets back," Ms. Briggs said, without an ounce of remorse in her voice.

"Nothing new," she replied. Only I could hear the sadness in her voice.

"What if we find the culprit?" I asked confident that we could.

"I find that highly unlikely, but if you do not prove Sam's innocence there is a chance she will be expelled due to her other behavior," said the teacher.

"Expelled?!" Sam exclaimed, "I haven't even done anything that bad this year!"

"You should have thought about that before you vandalized the school." Lanny said scornfully.

"For the millionth time, I DID NOT DO IT. Do you not understand English?" Sam shouted, hitting her hand on the picture on the desk and standing up.

I nervously stood up as well. "If you suspend her, you can suspend me, too!"

Sam turned to me, "Freddie, don't be an idiot! What about your attendance record?"

"Relax, Sam, I want to." I gave her a genuine smile. I was sure we would catch the person responsible for the vandalism, then Mr. Franklin would come back and take it off my permanent record. At least I hoped that last part.

"Yeah, don't be an idiot, Fredwardo," Lanny said, rolling his eyes, "What would the grounds for suspension even be anyway?"

"I guess I'll just be leaving school early then!" I said nervously.

Sam grabbed the picture off the desk and handed it to me, "No, he's suspended for doing this. Run, Freddie!"

I took the picture and sprinted out the door with Sam at my heels.

"Mr. Benson, you are suspended as well! Now bring back that picture!" I heard Ms. Briggs shout behind us.

I kept running. I didn't know what was up with me today. Maybe it was adrenaline, or maybe I was going through belated teenage rebellion. At that moment I didn't care about what my mother would say when she found out. Mr. Franklin would understand. I hoped. All I cared about was proving Sam's innocence over this one thing I knew for sure she didn't do.

I glanced at Sam. Her hair was a mess, she had a mischievous look in her eyes and she was laughing as she ran. At that moment, I realized that maybe, just maybe, all that was up with me was that I was (still) in love with this girl.

**A/N: I don't own iCarly, I only own this story and any original characters. I know Freddie may seem a bit out of character in this story, but I imagine that with Carly in Italy, Freddie may stop being such a goody-goody. I figure Sam has rubbed off on him quite a bit and he's become braver, standing up for her because no one else will. By the way, he won't forget his threat to report Ms. Briggs for pulling Sam's hair back in chapter 2. I apologize for this chapter going up later than I said it would. School, work, and life kinda got in the way of me updating. Ms. Briggs' nephew sure is a pain, huh? His name was totally made up and any resemblance to a real person is pure coincidence. Also, I just had to make a reference to the first episode when I mentioned 'Photodocking' in this story.**

**I appreciate any constructive criticism I get because it helps my writing, so thanks. Be on the lookout for chapter 4 sometime over the weekend! Thanks for reading!**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 3

"Holy chiz, I've had enough!"

I looked up to see Sam toss the yearbook she was holding. After our dramatic exit from the school we went straight to my place to look at old yearbooks and pictures on the iCarly website. We were laying on the floor with the Photodocked photo between us and a mountain of yearbooks surrounding us. An empty bucket of fried chicken sat by Sam's side. It had been a two hours and so far none of the pictures of Sam matched the one that had been Photodocked. I decided to try and calm Sam down before this got ugly.

"Sam, we just need to be patient. We're gonna find the picture." I said.

"And what if we don't? I'm sick of sitting here trying to find evidence that someone's framing me. We need to do something more!"

"And what would that be?"

"I don't know. You're the computer genius! Ugh, I'm gonna get some more food," She said as she went to the kitchen.

I decided to power up my laptop. I was really thinking now: maybe there was more I could do. Ms. Briggs had claimed that there were no cameras near the vandalism, but that didn't mean there wasn't one that could've caught sight of a person sneaking into the courtyard. I would need to hack into the school's security system and find the footage for last night. A muffled sound interrupted my thoughts.

Worried, I got up and went into the kitchen. Sam was kneeling, with her head and upper body in the refrigerator. The sounds she was making told me she was either crying or munching on some ham, or both.

"Sam, are you okay?" I asked, concerned. I wanted to kick myself for having to ask. _Of course she's not._

She turned around, a slice of ham in her mouth. Tears were running down her face as she finished her ham and said, "No, Freddiccino, I'm crying. Got a problem with it?"

"I don't have a problem with you crying," I said kneeling down to her level. "I'm just a bit surprised. The only time I've ever seen you cry was when you had a near-death experience."

"Well, my life might as well be over. It's our senior year, Freddie. If I get expelled I'm probably going to end up never finishing high school. I'm probably going to end up just like my mother." She put her head back into the fridge to cry. My heart broke. I should be comforting her, not an appliance. I decided to risk Sam's wrath and gently put an arm around her.

Sam didn't push me away. She took her head out of the fridge and I sat on the floor, taking her into my arms. I let her cry into my chest for as long as she needed to. She was tightly squeezing my arms, so much that I figured I'd have bruises the next day, not that that mattered. All I wanted to do was comfort her. After a while the sobs stopped, and I figured she was asleep as quiet as she was.

"Freddie?" Sam said softly.

"Hmm?"

"Thank you for holding me and just letting me blubber. No one has ever done that for me before. It really meant a lot."

"No problem. What are friends for?" I wanted to say more, but somehow I couldn't. I didn't want to tell her I still had feelings for her, not yet. Not like this. I kept my arms around her and she didn't budge.

"I know it seems weird for me to be crying over school, considering who I am," Sam continued, "but I found out that my mom never finished high school and it scares me to death. I mean, I know she tries to hold down a job now, but I don't want my life to be like hers. I never told anyone this, but was hoping to become a chef someday, not a high school dropout."

I tried to reassure her, "You won't end up like your mother. You will become a chef someday, which by the way is an excellent career choice. We're going to catch the person that's messing with you. Then I'm going to help you start looking at colleges that have good culinary arts programs."

"How do you know it will work out?" Sam asked, the fire in her eyes returning.

"Because, you've been in worse situations than this and somehow made it out of them. You're a fighter and I respect that. Plus, you're not alone." I gave her a little smile.

Sam laughed softly.

"What?" I asked, chuckling.

"Um, nothing." She answered playfully.

"Tell me" I said, tickling her side. We were still cuddled up together. If anyone were around to see us now they would think we were still a couple.

"I was just thinking about how weird our friendship is."

I chuckled in agreement, "Yeah, I know. In the course of it I've been slapped, kicked, screamed at, and even kissed."

She looked into my eyes, "I've put you through everything and you still stick around. Freddie, I- I really appreciate you being here for me. You have no idea."

Before I could think to respond, we heard the Skype ringtone going off in the living room. Sam got up first, and I instantly missed having her in my arms. _Why did turn on that computer_, I thought as we went to answer it. _Whoever is calling better be pretty important for ruining that moment. _

Sam got to the laptop first and sat on the couch beside it. She smiled when she looked at the screen. "It's Carly!"

I sat down beside Sam. I was excited to hear from Carly, and not for the reason I usually would have been. I clicked on the button to answer with video.

Carly appeared on the screen, "Freddie, Sam! It's so good to see you guys!"

"Hey, good to see you too, Carly," I said.

"How's Italy treating you, Carls?" Sam asked.

Carly smiled, "It's awesome. I started school here and I've met a ton of cool people. Listen, one of reasons I'm calling is because I got three hundred Splashface messages today from students at Ridgeway about you guys."

Sam and I exchanged a sheepish glance. "What did the messages say?" I asked, pretty much knowing the answer.

"They ranged from 'Puckett and Benson got suspended today.' to 'Sam got blamed for something she actually didn't do for once' to 'OMG Seddie! Seddie! Seddie!'" Carly answered in amusement, doing a different voice for each one.

"Well, there is some truth to those." Sam answered, "See, some punk vandalized the outside of the school. This person wrote something pretty bad about Ms. Briggs. Anyway, she's all cheesed off and blames me for it, and even though I've never even seen it and don't even know what it says. Freddie stepped up and defended me, but I still got suspended. There's also a picture that was photodocked to look like I actually did it. Freddie grabbed it and got himself suspended as well, so now were looking to find the photo it was made from."

Carly's eyes got wide, "Whoa. So is it also true that you two are dating again and spent the whole night together last night?"

"We spent the night together, but we are NOT dating again." Sam said clearly.

My face fell a bit at her tone when she said that. "Yeah, we were spending the night doing trig homework and we fell asleep, honest," I added.

"You guys know it's okay with me if you two date again, right?" Carly asked. I couldn't believe Carly was worried about that when Sam was in trouble like this.

"Um, yes. But we're not." Sam said.

"Oh-kay." Carly said, sounding like she didn't believe us. "Is there anything I can do to help all the way from here."

"Yes," I said, "Can you look on the iCarly website for any pictures of Sam that match this one. I'll scan it and send it to you later." I held up the picture to the camera.

"Yeah sure. It's evening for me now so it's no problem."

"What time is it there anyway?"

"It's 9:15pm now. So do you guys need any, I don't know, spy gear or disguises? Because there's some in the old iCarly studio."

"We might eventually," I answered, "but we can't get them because Spencer's in France." After about a month after Carly had left, Sasha Striker showed up once again. She and Spencer were dating now and traveling the world together.

Sam stood up, "Leave it all to me."

"You're gonna break into our apartment, aren't you?" Carly deadpanned.

"With your permission."

"Lock it back up when you're done," Carly answered.

Sam ran out of the apartment, happy to be doing something fun and bad that was actually okay. Carly and I chucked when we heard the happy sound she made when she got the door open.

"So, Freddie," Carly said, "There's something I've been meaning to tell you."

"Shoot" I said, still smiling from Sam's antics.

"I made a mistake by kissing you before I left."

**A/N: Ouch!** **Who want's to hear that? Anyway, you have no idea how sorry I am for the lack of updates. From now on I'm not going to make promises about updates, but I will say that I'm going to have more time to write since I'm on Thanksgiving break this week. I'm already planning a sequel to this story, which will possibly be written from Sam's point of view. Don't worry, several more chapters are left to this one! I admit I'm loving the Sam and Freddie moments in this story, but I guess that's understandable since I'm the one writing them. Please Review, Favorite and/or Follow if you so desire and you're enjoying this! Thanks for reading and as always, I don't own iCarly, I only own this story!**


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